The dream is over for San Diego FC – at least for this season.
The Vancouver Whitecaps came into a sold out Snapdragon Stadium on Saturday night and defeated SDFC 3-1 to advance to the MLS championship game.
Vancouver now advances to play Inter Miami in the MLS Cup, while San Diego’s wildly improbable and highly successful debut season, one in which they were chosen by many pundits to finish last in the standings, ends here.
The Whitecaps notched their first goal in just the eighth minute of the match, when striker Brian White found the back of the net with a right-footed shot from the center of the box.
Things worsened for the home team in the 11th minute, when goalkeeper Pablo Sisniega, while trying to fight off an encroachment on SDFC’s goal by the Whitecaps, accidentally knocked the ball into his own net, giving Vancouver a second goal within just three minutes.
With an early 2-0 lead, Vancouver managed to defend well enough to neutralize San Diego through the rest of the half. But in the second minute of stoppage time, the ‘Caps scored again.
White collected a brace by getting a second goal from the center of the box, making the score 3-0 Vancouver.
During the first 45 minutes, San Diego maintained possession for 53% of the time and equaled Vancouver with a total of six shots taken. The Whitecaps, however, took five shots on goal compared to just one for the home club.
In the second half, following what had become standard during these playoffs, attacking midfielder Hirving “Chucky” Lozano came off the bench for San Diego. But this time, instead of entering midway through the second, he was inserted right after halftime, replacing forward Corey Baird.
Lozano, who is one of the five highest paid players in MLS with a salary of more than $7.6 million, lost his starting job in October following a verbal altercation with the coaching staff after being substituted in a match during halftime of a regular season game.
He continued to be a key contributor during the playoffs, however, even with reduced minutes.
At the same time he was inserted in the game, right back Ian Pilcher was substituted for by center back Franco Negri, and center midfielder Luca de la Torre, a San Diego native, relieved fellow midfielder Anibal Godoy, with San Diego’s coaching staff looking to shake things up while trailing 3-0.
And it worked, at least for a while. During the 60 th minute, Lozano drilled a right-footed shot into the net’s upper left zone, to make the score 3-1.
But things took a turn for the worse for San Diego during the 79 th minute when Sisniega was given a red cardleading to his ejection and replacement by backup Duran Ferree. San Diego would not score again.
“We were very disappointed, we haven’t had a game like this through the whole season,” team captain Jeppe Tverskov said during the post-match press conference. “It’s tough.”
Following the match, fighting briefly broke out in the SDFC supporters’ section but was dispersed by uniformed officers.
Until now, SDFC hadn’t lost at home since Sept. 27. The club ended its season winners of seven of its final 10 matches.
SDFC was just the second expansion team in MLS history to reach a conference final in its debut season. The club ended its season with wins across all competitions and finished with a 19-10 record, with six draws, in 2025.
The team’s leading scorer and league MVP candidate Anders Dreyer had 19 goals and 18 assists this season, including four goals and two assists in the playoffs. He and midfielder Onni Valakari were the only two players to appear in all 39 of San Diego’s regular season and postseason matches.
The MLS Cup match is scheduled for 11:30 am Dec. 6 in Miami. Eastern Conference champion Inter Miami, led by global superstar player Lionel Messi, punched its ticket to the Cup by defeating New York City FC 5-1 about an hour before the SD-Vancouver match began.
SDFC kicks off its 2026 MLS season on Feb. 21 with a home match against CF Montreal.
